Man who tried to help friend may face 15 years prison

Nov. 19, 2012
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James Licher found a female friend who appeared to be a victim of a sexual assault by two men in this room. No charges have been filed in the alleged assault, but Licher faces charges for the way he intervened. / The Des Moines Register

Neither of the men allegedly involved with the assault has been charged with a crime. But James Licher, 31, is accused of assaulting and unlawfully imprisoning the men after he found them in various states of undress atop a motionless, 52-year-old woman shortly before 4 a.m. Aug. 24.

"She was a limp noodle," Licher said. "She was completely out of it. It was obvious what they were doing was wrong."

The woman, whose name is being withheld, conceded in an interview that she has little memory of the incident, which began with a birthday-night binge of schnapps drinking in a downtown bar here.

Based on others' accounts and gaps in her memory, the woman believes she was far too drunk to consent to anything Aug. 24.

For some reason, she says, that doesn't seem to matter to Tipton police or Cedar County prosecutors.

"They're basically trying to say that it was all me, enjoying the sex, that it was a consensual thing," the woman said. "It's so ridiculous. They are so focused on (Licher's) case that it's basically overshadowing mine."

Licher's bizarre situation has prompted a rarely used legal maneuver by defense attorney William Kutmus. He is trying to have Cedar County Attorney Jeffrey Renander removed from the case because of Renander's alleged "rush to judgment" against Licher.

According to documents Kutmus filed last week, Renander's actions require "a fresh look at the facts by a fully informed court and special prosecutor."

A hearing on the matter is scheduled Wednesday.

Court papers, interviews and audio from a police conversation with the woman describe her late-night birthday celebration:

The drinking began early, at a birthday dinner with her husband. Then, at about 11 p.m. Aug. 23, the woman headed to an establishment she knew to provide free shots of liquor on birthdays. She said she intended to have just one drink but patrons kept buying more, so she kept drinking them.

After last call, which included one shot of schnapps that the woman said tasted different than the others, she walked a few blocks to a downtown building where she operates several small businesses.

Two men, one older and one younger, apparently followed her.

She said she can't remember details.

Licher said he had seen the woman at the bar and considered her drunk. But he continued drinking for a while after she left and eventually wandered to the downtown building - where the woman was - with Guillermo Pacheco-Montes. Licher lives upstairs from the woman's business.

Licher and Pacheco-Montes were going to have a few more beers, according to Pacheco-Montes. But when they couldn't find any beer, Licher went instead into a cabinet next to a bed where the woman sometimes sleeps when she works late.

Licher pulled out several guns, showing them off, Pacheco-Montes said.

Licher said that the guns belong to the woman and denies that he showed them to anyone. But he agrees that Pacheco-Montes was there when they both heard a noise.

Licher said he walked roughly 30 feet to a closed door and opened it to find two men performing sex acts with his friend, who was on the floor.

Licher went back to the cabinet, grabbed a gun and leveled it at the men. An affidavit says he told them to "get the (expletive) out of the building."

Licher, whose history includes a 2003 drunken-driving guilty plea and a conviction for aiding and abetting a burglary when he was 18, insists he was acting honorably when he forced the men away from his friend.

But court papers allege that he acted more upset with the woman than her two attackers and that Licher held a gun on one of the men for "a considerable time" before dialing 911.

The woman did little but cry after that. Records show she initially spoke little with police, partly because of her lack of memory and partly due to sickness.

She rode home from University of Iowa Hospitals in the back of a police car sometime after 10:30 a.m. Aug. 24, and she went immediately to bed.

Court papers say the woman called police Aug. 25 and made arrangements to give a statement so she could press charges.

Cedar County authorities arrested and charged Licher later that day with two counts of assault, one count of unlawful imprisonment and one charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Prosecutors added a special enhancement for repeat offenders that means Licher faces a possible 15 years behind bars if convicted.

Licher's arrest came two days before police took a formal statement from the woman, who eventually told an investigator about her foggy memory.

By then, the two men had told police that the woman had performed oral sex on them. Court papers quote the older man as saying she kissed "all the guys" at the bar and grabbed his genitals while they were drinking.

The woman said she has no memory of any form of sexual behavior.

Attempts to reach both men at phone numbers believed to be their homes and places of employment were unsuccessful. Their names are being withheld because they have not been charged with a crime.

Renander stressed the differences between Licher's case and the alleged sexual assault.

"There are other neutral witnesses that dispute that," the prosecutor said of Licher's account.

As for the alleged sexual assault, "right now, at this point, I don't think I can prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt on that charge," he said.

Renander argues in court papers that there's no proof the woman was unable to consent to sex - despite a blood alcohol level that measured 0.158 at the point she was tested in the hospital and despite test results that showed cocaine was in her system.

The woman says she never knowingly ingested the drug.

Authorities also appear to be leaning heavily on Pacheco-Montes, who heard but did not see everything that took place Aug. 24.

"I heard a scream like she's enjoying it," Pacheco-Montes said in an interview. "It's not a scream like something she doesn't want to do."

"It's hard for me to understand how one can make that determination," said Elizabeth Barnhill, executive director of the Iowa Coalition Against Sexual Assault, when told of the case.

"All of these things are things that I would think would make law enforcement want to investigate it very carefully," Barnhill said. "It's interesting and unusual that they would want to investigate the alleged assailants before investigating her (complaint) and then take action against someone who was coming to her defense."

Kutmus argues in court papers that "the logic on the part of the state is unsettling" and ought to provide encouragement for "male sexual predators who lie in wait in bars."

"The state is misguided in its focus on the credibility of the males in this case and summarily dismissed (the woman's) claims that she was raped, not withstanding the uncontroverted fact that she was intoxicated and high on cocaine before and during the sex act," Kutmus wrote. "Unwittingly, the state gives sanction to the dreadful notion of legitimate rape and makes light of what is in fact sexual abuse as defined in the Iowa Code."

"There certainly are situations where a determination is made that there isn't enough information to take a case to trial," Barnhill said. "But that's a determination that should be made after a pretty thorough investigation, not one where you speak to the alleged offenders first."

Licher finds the whole thing confusing as to why his freedom is at risk.

"I'm no angel, by any means," he said. "But I was just trying to do what was right."